Patch 5.4 - Visions of Time: Courting Destiny
Patch 5.4 adds a quest line on the Timeless Isle that involves working for Kairoz of the Keepers of Time. He is on the Timeless Isle because the Bronze Dragonflight is not as powerful as it once was, only being able to catch furtive glimpses through time. He has created an hourglass that will allow for a window into the timeways, but you must collect 50 x Epoch Stones to make it usable.

After collecting the stones, you embark on a series of weekly quests to use the Vision of Time in different locations to calibrate the Vision of Time. Kairoz eventually will reveal that there is a traitor among the Bronze Dragonflight.

As the hourglass grows more powerful, he will send you to the Temple of the White Tiger to see a glimpse of Garrosh and Anduin, which is the scene you see below.

Patch 5.4 - Malkorok Preview
Malkorok is the ninth boss in the Siege of Orgrimmar. The encounter takes place under Ragefire Chasm in Orgrimmar.

Raid Testing Schedule - September 3 - 4

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

On Tuesday, September 3, and Wednesday, September 4, we will continue testing raid encounters in the Siege of Orgrimmar raid.

Each encounter should be available at approximately the listed times below for all Public Test Realms.

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a beta environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the boss being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Blue Posts

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Connected Realms and Battlegroupsso who is getting grouped with who then, and will it go by current battlegroups?
The battlegroups is a factor for sure that needs to be taken into account, but I cannot say yet if they will be a limiting factor. Also, we are still in the process of determining which realms to connect, so we it will be a little while still before we can announce a list of the realms that will be connected. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Darker Nights"Patch 5.4 will have a test case for darker nights in Orgrimmar, Stormwind, and Vale of Eternal Blossoms."
Blue-tagged! Sleep tight and enjoy the night, don't let the Sha of Nightmares bite! (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Flex RaidingSure, makes total sense, but btw three raid lockouts per week may be overkill. H Raiders seem not excited about Flex.
Not sure why heroic raiders would run flex more than once or twice unless their progression in heroic was really slow. (Source)You're not sure why..? because of ridiculous trinkets, set bonuses, and weapons if they've been RNG-screwed in ToT.
Set bonuses are a problem if you've just been very unlucky. Trinkets are a problem if we screw up the balance. Wpns should not be. (Source)
If you rerolled or something, maybe, but if you have a N or H weapon from the previous tier, you should be good to go. (Source)

Raid FinderGetting bored of people moaning about LFR. Take it away and I may as well cancel my sub.
We like LFR. It's not going anywhere. Just trying to provide additional features on top of it. (Source)

you never put in the tools like a good voice communication system for LFR to succeed as organized gameplay. ur fault
I don't think difficult + voice forces random groups to coordinate, but it's a fair criticism that our voice sucks. (Source)

i will not use flex on principle its an attempt to kill lfr.
It is not an attempt to kill LFR. It's an attempt to provide a more casual alternative to N for social groups who don't enjoy LFR. (Source)

the thing is...LFR Takes away the epic experience. dont believe me? look at every raid since 4.3.
Another POV is LFR provides an epic experience for players who otherwise never would have had it. (Source)
100% agree that LFR is less epic than normal (or flex). But it is more epic than a YouTube of the fight. (Source)

PvEIs the normal mode still all open on the first week?Tom Chilton says the normal will just open wing 1 on the first week.
The plan is normal will all open on the first week. (Source)

Out of curiosity, will in the Siege raid. Will the Horde have a time where a npc clear out a portion of the mobs?
We are trying to give both H and A cool moments in the raid without just mirroring each other. (Source)

Does this mean it will take four lockouts for the cloak quest? Or will you be able to kill he last three in week 1?
The latter. You just only get loot for the first "kill" that week. (Source)wiait, so position has changed that legendary cloak could be unlocked in first week? Now it will take at least 4 weeks?
You can "kill" all the celestials on day one. You only get loot from the first one you defeat every week. (Source)

so the next xpac will be another cataclysm, you had this talk before that launch about difficulty and need to change
No, the problem with Cat was there was no alternatives to HC dungeons. As I said, exclusive is fine as long as alternative exist. (Source)

Weekly News Recap
Another very busy week full of news, so here is your chance to catch up!

The news post says it's Garrosh, but it doesn't appear to be him at all. For one thing, that hand is definitely of the old orc model. Also, not shirtless.

Edit: Also, it's Shado-Pan guarding him. It may use the same room as you find below the Temple of the White Tiger, but I think that's just Blizzard reusing similar areas for different places. I wouldn't be surprised if lorewise this is elsewhere.

I like to see them making night time actually dark. But I don't have any confidence in them anymore to do what they say. I doubt we'll be able to even tell the difference. They need to make it extremely dark, with torches lighting up areas. With a toggle to shut up the whiners of course.

Unlikely unless they detach the day-night cycle from the servers' real-life time, as people with a challenging time schedule or who log in from another time zone would only ever see the dark, dark night.

Unlikely unless they detach the day-night cycle from the servers' real-life time, as people with a challenging time schedule or who log in from another time zone would only ever see the dark, dark night.

Or they can just light the game better instead of just bumping up the gamma setting.

The news post says it's Garrosh, but it doesn't appear to be him at all. For one thing, that hand is definitely of the old orc model. Also, not shirtless.

Edit: Also, it's Shado-Pan guarding him. It may use the same room as you find below the Temple of the White Tiger, but I think that's just Blizzard reusing similar areas for different places. I wouldn't be surprised if lorewise this is elsewhere.

The NPC spawned is named Garrosh in the game files - the four NPCs in the scene are "shado-pan1", "shado-pan2", "anduin", and "garrosh".

Unlikely unless they detach the day-night cycle from the servers' real-life time, as people with a challenging time schedule or who log in from another time zone would only ever see the dark, dark night.

I would fall into that category and would be fine with it always being dark.

The news post says it's Garrosh, but it doesn't appear to be him at all. For one thing, that hand is definitely of the old orc model. Also, not shirtless.

Edit: Also, it's Shado-Pan guarding him. It may use the same room as you find below the Temple of the White Tiger, but I think that's just Blizzard reusing similar areas for different places. I wouldn't be surprised if lorewise this is elsewhere.

He is also wearing a hood which makes me wonder if his appearance is changed by the sha energy he used, or if this is an earlier Garrosh being shown in the timeway of the hourglass.